Kindly, I respectfully disagree with Pastor Steven L. Anderson that prayer is the Bible method to be saved, but he has a right to his own opinion as a fundamentalist Bible preacher, which I respect. I love Brother Anderson and he is a ministry friend. It is not damnable heresy as some try to make it. Brother Onorato Diamante on YouTube is also my ministry friend, and I support his soul-winning ministry. In this theological debate, I side with Onorato.
Pastor Jack Hyles taught us to use a Sinner's Prayer at Hyles-Anderson College, which is how I was taught. But Dr. Hyles also made it clear that you don't have to pray to be saved.
Furthermore, Evangelist Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968), or simply “Dr. Bob” as friends and students called him, rightly taught that you don't have to pray to get to Heaven...
“'Pray to be saved. Ask the Lord to save you.' This is what I heard a minister say to a convicted sinner who came forward for prayer at the close of an evangelistic service. Nowhere in the Bible are men told to pray to be saved. There are examples where men did pray and were saved. Men are told to repent, to believe, to obey the Gospel, but the Bible never says to pray for salvation. It does say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but nowhere does the Bible command men to pray to be saved. I think I know why, God, who made the human heart, knew that it was not necessary to tell convicted sinners to pray. If a sinner can see Jesus Christ on the cross, it is as natural for him to pray as it is for birds to sing or flowers to bloom. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Comments On Here And Hereafter,” chapter titled: 'Prayer And Praise,' p. 163; Bob Jones University Press, Inc., © 1942
Bravo Dr. Bob!
Furthermore, several years ago I heard Pastor Anderson say in a sermon that if anyone says he doesn't believe you can be saved by faith alone without prayer, they are a liar. He simply believes that calling upon the name of the Lord in prayer is the Bible method of winning souls. This does not in any way negate the saving power of the Gospel.
That being said, I am concerned that using a Sinner's Prayer might confuse some people, but that is only my personal experience and opinion. When I got saved at age 12, I needlessly struggled with the assurance of my salvation for the next 10 years, because no one had ever showed me from the Bible that I could be saved by simply believing the Gospel. I kept worrying what I had prayed, and since I couldn't remember, it drove me crazy.
And even though I prayed at least 50 times over those years for God to save me, I still couldn't find any peace in the matter because no one had ever shown me the true simple Gospel, which is salvation by faith in Jesus' death on the cross, burial and His bodily resurrection, apart from all human effort. But it wasn't until I read Pastor Max Younce's helpful book, "Salvation And The Public Invitation" that I finally found the sweet peace that I am saved. Dr. Younce's book SOLIDIFIED my salvation beliefs.
Faithful Word Baptist Church won 10,121 lost souls to Christ over the past year (Pastor Anderson personally led 182 sinners to faith in Christ). Amen and amen! It would be folly to say that none of those people got saved because they were led in a Sinner's Prayer. I led many people to Christ using a Sinner's Prayer in my early ministry days. But I stopped using it many years ago for the aforementioned reasons.
I will say this, it is VERY normal for a person to want to pray a Sinner's Prayer to accompany their faith. I did at age 12. I silently called out to God in my heart to save me, and He graciously did at age 12. I believe people are saved before they ever open their mouth to pray, or walk down a church aisle, because it is the heart's faith that saves a sinner, and not their behavioral responses (Romans 10:9-10). I believe that 95% of sinners instinctively pray a Sinner's Prayer at the time of conversion. This is fine and not wrong to do.
That all being said, I think it is paramount that Bible preachers emphasis that we are saved by faith alone without having to pray, call or ask to be saved. I once heard Pastor Bob Gray Sr. rightly say that Jesus doesn't forgive sin. Jesus has already paid for everyone's sins with His precious blood. I love that! So, all someone needs to do to be saved is to simply by faith (taking God at His written Word) accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for their sins, believing that Christ was buried but is now risen, to be saved. It's that easy to go to Heaven.
You don't have to ask to receive a gift that is freely being offered to you, you simply just take it. Eternal life is a "free gift" according to Romans 5:15-18, 6:23 and Ephesians 2:8-9. JESUS PAID IT ALL, all I have to do to receive God's free gift is BELIEVE that Jesus did it all for me through Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago.
One final word, I am aware that some New IFB pastors (e.g., Jonathan Shelley in Texas) insist that you must pray to be saved, which is blatant heresy! Yet, as I mentioned in this blog, Pastor Steven Anderson does not teach that. He has plainly said that it is possible for someone to be saved by faith alone without saying a Sinner's Prayer, but he simply chooses to always use a Sinner's Prayer in his church's soul-winning efforts. Each pastor is different.
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